ABSTRACT

Measurement is as integral to human factors as it is to every scientific and engineering discipline. Indeed, it would be correct to say that human factors test and evaluation (HFTE) preceded the development of the discipline because it is only when one can measure phenomena that one can organize these phenomena into a discipline. Although scant written evidence survives to support the notion that HFTE was anything more than trial and error prior to World War II, there is evidence of the use of tools to measure bodily parts, for example, calipers to measure the cranium for fitting helmets. HFTE specialists would include training as an important aspect of evaluation criteria. An important new development in HFTE emerged; little had changed since the Civil War, as systems became increasingly sophisticated, a new dimension in personnel selection had to be considered: human intelligence.